Protasia
Protasia is a war world within the Drusus Marches of the Calixis Sector. An ongoing Imperial military campaign is trying to reclaim the world from separatist forces. The situation on Protasia and the inability of the Ministorum to bring the light of the God-Emperor back to the world has proven to be a continuous embarrassment on the part of Cardinal Kregory Hestor, cardinal of the Drusian Diocese and member of the Sector Synod. Once a devout planet, the Ministorum enjoyed a strong presence on Protasia and holy wonders such as the Thirty-Two Hallowed Steps and the Golden Army of Var drew pilgrims from across the sector. However in the wake of the Foulmind Heresy and the nightmare of the Hundredfold Host, the church on Protasia changed. While records remain unclear, it is believed that the leader of the Protasian Synod, Arch-Bishop Galarphan, or at least something wearing his skin, was responsible for this first great schism and the first seeds of the separatist movement which would grow and thrive under his watchful eye. At first the Sector Synod was not overly concerned with the rise of new cults and the disappearance of a few pilgrims and clerics; it was only later when human sacrifices and dark rituals were uncovered did it discover just how rotten the core of the Protasian Synod had become. Confessor Elye the Traitor is a known heretic who turned from the church and sided with the Golden Army of Var during the opening days of the conflict. Now Ignato sees the strife engulfing this world as the personal business of the church and has caused both Cardinal Kregory and Sector Lord Marius Hax great pains as he meddles in their efforts to pacify the world. Ignato believes that somewhere on Protasia the Arch-Bishop Galarphan still lives, directing his splinter faith and fuelling the moral and determination of the separatists, and the Arch-Cardinal would like nothing more than to bring him back to Scintilla in chains to meet the just and righteous retribution of the God-Emperor. The holy war here and the one brewing on nearby 47 Kapella has drawn much attention, especially from the Adepta Sororitas. It was here that Seraph, Moritat assassin and acolyte of the Oblationist Inquisitor Antonia Mesmeron, was possessed by the daemon Spayr during the Inquisitor’s involvement in the Foulmind conspiracy. 'The Protasian Breach' Not all of the servants of the Ruinous Powers lurk mindlessly in the Warp waiting to be summoned---some have the means and will to bring about cataclysms through subtle and far reaching manipulation. Five hundred years ago, the war-torn world of Protasia was almost subsumed beneath a wave of Warp-spawned doom the likes of which has seldom been seen even within the Calixis Sector. Protasia’s doom began when the planet’s Imperial Governor---Lord Malkun Grund the Fifty-First---took it upon himself to plot secession from the Imperium. Not a stupid man, Grund kept his own counsel on this matter, concocting all manner of ways in which he might cast off the hated yoke and free himself entirely of any obligations to the wider galaxy. Yet, though Grund never told another soul of his slow-burning ambitions, someone, or rather something, heard his thoughts and whispered to him within his mind. An envoy of Tzeentch, the Chaos God of sorcery and guile, had heard his plotting, and spoke to him of the power he could gain if he just declared Protasia’s secession. Grund listened closely, for the envoy flattered him with promises of all he might become once he followed his own path and not that of the Adeptus Terra. Although Grund never needed to say a single incriminating word to any of his subordinates, Tzeentch caused his plots to take root in their minds as well. Step by step, the ties that bound Protasia to the Imperium were cut. Trade missions on favorable terms were declined, Ecclesiarchy tithes were slowly, subtly reduced until they were scarcely worth collecting. Reliance on nearby worlds was reduced, and senior Administratum adepts quietly killed off. At the last, at the insistence of the envoy, Grund declined to undertake a crucial obligation of an Imperial Governor: he cancelled the annual psyker cull. It was several years before the cancellation of the cull took effect, but when finally it did, doom came to Protasia. In a single day, a dozen rogue psykers came into their powers and ravaged the land, killing thousands in an orgy of psychic murder. The very skies above Protasia seethed with witch-lights and arcs of raw psychic power stitched across the boiling clouds. Grund raged---imploring the envoy to deliver him and his world from the chaos that had overtaken it. But for the first time in a decade, the envoy was silent. Grund was abandoned to his fate. At the height of the psychic storm, each of the rogue psykers was transfigured into a grotesque gateway of pulsing flesh, through which spewed hundreds of vile Enslavers. These utterly alien creatures were native to the Warp, but fed upon the stuff of reality. They entered the material universe through the unprotected minds of rogue psykers, and on Protasia they went forth across the land, turning day to night and taking over the minds of countless millions of Grund’s subjects. Hordes of drooling, mind-slaved drones stumbled across the surface of Protasia, and more and more portals were opened as the Enslavers harnessed the power of the entire population to breach the Warp and draw forth more of their kind. And then, as Grund sank to his knees upon the last intact tower of his palace, a bright light appeared in the seething skies. The light descended upon a pillar of flame, coming to rest before the uncounted horde. A group of warriors, each armored in polished silver, emerged from the drop ship, and without pause dove into the heart of the enemy. Fire rained from the skies, and Grund knew that a fleet of vessels must be in orbit, unleashing a fearsome orbital barrage that was tearing the mind-slaved horde apart before his eyes. Grund uttered the laugh of the madmen, for he knew that he was delivered, but that he would soon pay the ultimate price for his treachery. For he knew that had brought about the ruin of his world, and had caused the deaths of millions. But then the barrage abruptly ceased. The Black Ships, battle barges of the Grey Knights Chapter of Space Marines, and cruisers of Battlefleet Calixis were set upon by another fleet belonging to the servants of the Ruinous Powers---the Alpha Legion. The envoy appeared once more at Grund’s back, whispered its thanks for his service, and was gone forever. The two fleets engaged even as the battle continued on the surface below. Millions of tons of ordnance were exchanged in the opening salvoes, and within an hour, dozens of ships were aflame. While the two fleets tore one another apart, the massively outnumbered Grey Knights on the ground fought their way through the horde to reach the quivering gristle-gates that the psykers had become, and one by one, destroyed them. When at last the final gate was closed and the last of the Enslavers slain, the horde fell apart, millions of mind-slaves collapsing to the ground in an instant. In orbit, the Alpha Legion war fleet disengaged, but the Imperials were too weak to pursue. Instead, they turned their attentions upon the ruins of Protasia, which in the course of mere days had been reduced to nigh-complete ruin. Lord Malkun Grund the Fifty-First was the only human being left alive in his palace, and he was soon brought before the Ordo Malleus and their Grey Knight allies. Grund was pronounced guilty of the very worst crimes an Imperial Commander can commit, and executed on the spot. Protasia was left a charnel house, its surviving populace reduced to mere shells of their former selves as they wandered an apocalyptic wasteland scattered with uncounted dead. The Inquisition debated scouring the surface with cyclonic torpedoes, in order to remove any trace of xenos or Warp taint. The world received a stay of execution when it was found that the Grey Knights’ intervention had averted a total Warp breach, and all of those enslaved by the xenos were dead. Protasia would rise from the ashes, but only after many decades of rebuilding and constant vigilance for any taint. Years later, the taint of secessionism reappeared, and Protasia announced itself beyond the power of the Adeptus Terra. Perhaps the envoy of Tzeentch whispers from the shadows still, manipulating the weak and bringing about death and destruction in the pursuit of its master’s unfathomable schemes... Category:Calixis Sector Category:War Worlds Category:Planets Category:Drusus Marches